"I
don't care what Hawk thinks.There
has to be a way to save him," Buck said to Wilma."There has to be!"

"You
will find a way, Buck.You
always do," Wilma replied in a matter of fact voice.

The
day of Hawk's trial came up and Buck tried to get Hawk to talk to the
Galactic Court.An hour
before the trail, Buck saw Hawk and said to him, "Are you sure you
will not speak in your own defense, Hawk?Not one word?"

"No,
there is no point," Hawk sadly said to Buck.

"Hawk
..." Buck sighed.

"I
do not want to die. I did want to at first so I can be reunited with
Koori, but now ..." Hawk said softly and sadly.

"Then
talk to the Galactic Court," Buck pleaded, but Hawk only shook his
head.

Sighing,
Buck headed for the door when Hawk's voice stopped him."Buck, I will like to say I am honored that you regard me as
an equal."

"I
am honored that you do and I am still going to talk in your defense
whether you like it or not," Buck told Hawk as he went out the door.Frustrated by Hawk's refusal to defend himself before the Galactic
Court, Buck quickly worked on a speech he hoped would convince the Court
that Hawk deserved to live.

The
trial proceeded with Hawk saying nothing.Buck began his speech to convince the Galactic Court of Hawk's
reasons for attacking humans.Hawk
was stunned to think that a human would ask to be killed as well if he was
put to death.He never
thought that a human would care so much about someone like him who was not
human.

Hawk's
thoughts went back to when he first encountered Buck and the trek they
made in a desperate attempt to get his mate, Koori, medical attention.Buck's reaction to Koori's death and the fight where, instead of
killing him, Buck treated his injuries and got Hawk to the sickbay of the
Searcher so Dr. Goodfellow could perform surgery saving his life.Even now, Buck was determined that he do whatever it took to save
Hawk.

After
the trial, Hawk was surprised that Buck offered to help him find more of
his people.Hawk wondered
what it would have been like if he had encountered Buck before the attack
on his people.Would Buck
have helped him protect his people?A
definite possibility given what he has seen of Buck's willingness to help
others no matter who they are and what they appear to be.

Buck
showed Hawk his new quarters on the Searcher after a tour of the ship.Settling in, Hawk sat on the bed with his forearms on his knees.A pensive mood came over him.His people and Koori were gone and it would be an unknown length of
time before he encountered another one of his kind.Now he had to stay onboard a vessel until such time it was deemed
he would not threaten any more humans.

A
knock on the door broke into Hawk's thoughts."Enter."

Buck
was standing in the doorway."Can
I come in?"

Looking
up, Hawk sighed."Yes.
What do you want?"

"You
are still bothered being here, aren't you?" Buck asked as he pulled
up a chair and sat down in front of Hawk.

Letting
out a sigh from deep inside of him. "Yes," Hawk murmured.

"I
know how you feel," Buck said in a quiet voice as Hawk looked up at
him."When I came back
from that mission that lasted 500 years, it took a long time for me to
adjust to the fact that everyone I knew was dead.The worse part was knowing I would never got the chance to marry my
girlfriend, Jennifer.We were
thinking of getting married right after my mission," Buck replied in
a not quite steady voice himself.

"You
lost your world, your family and the woman who was to be your mate. We
have both suffered losses," admitted Hawk as Buck nodded in
agreement.

"It
is how we deal with those losses over time.I know there is nothing I can say or do that will undo what has
happened to you, Hawk.But
what I can do is be here for you when you need to talk," Buck
offered.

"Thank
you.There is one question I
want to ask.How did you deal
with your loss of your loved ones?" Hawk asked.

"All
I do know is that what helped me deal with the loss of my family and
friends were the happy memories of them.That is also what has helped me to learn to live in this
world," Buck said with a smile tugging at his face.

"Happy
memories.It will be some
time before I can even think of such things," Hawk remarked as he
rubbed his face.

"It
won't be easy, and you are right in that it will be some time," Buck
said as he got up to leave the room."I better let you get some rest.Good night, Hawk."